FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CINGULAR - PAGE 4

If you found a gift card for a new phone in your stocking, here are a handful of cool devices from Sprint, Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless. Keyboard equipped: Most intriguing are two phones with built-in, typewriter-style keyboards. The Cingular 8525 Pocket PC ($399) slides open laterally, revealing an ample-sized set of thumb-style keys. The Sprint IP-830w by Samsung ($599) slides open vertically to display a keyboard recognizable to anyone who has viewed a BlackBerry. Both use the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, giving them the power to function as PDAs as well as phones.

By Karen-Janine Cohen Business Writer and Staff researcher William Lucey contributed to this report, February 18, 2004

Local AT&T Wireless customers seemed under-whelmed Tuesday when they heard that competitor Cingular Wireless LLC may gobble up their cell phone firm. At an AT&T store on North Federal Highway, steps away from a Cingular store, customers mostly hadn't heard the news. Reactions ranged from indifference to hopes of better cell phone service. Angela and Peter O'Donnell, frequent visitors from Boston, were at the store to replace a cell phone that fell into the sea. A long-time AT&T customer, she said she stays with the company because she hasn't had time to research all the options.

Customers of Cingular Wireless LLC and other mobile phone companies struggled to make calls in New York, Detroit and Cleveland almost 24 hours after the worst power failure in U.S. history struck the Northeast and Canada. More than 75 percent of Cingular's transmission towers in Detroit and Bloomfield, Mich., are out of service, the company said in a statement. Cingular, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Verizon Wireless Inc. said power failures continued to plague some cellular sites in New York, though the situation improved after electricity was restored to half of the city.

The day after Apple Inc. launched its new iPhone, Padmasree Warrior, Motorola Inc.'s chief technology officer, wrote on her blog on Motorola's corporate Web site that she is a fan of Apple's creativity and that she liked the cell phone's new look. Then Warrior, whose company is the largest U.S. cell phone maker, began to find fault with the iPhone, saying it lacks "revolutionary or disruptive" technologies. "As worshippers come out of the heady, enthralling, grandstand production called Macworld, the hype settles and reality sets in," she wrote.

For Fausto Alvarez, it wasn't enough to have wireless Internet access in his office, through his clients' offices or at the local Wi-Fi hot spot. At HBA Insurance Group Inc., the Miami-based insurance agency he works for, all the company's forms, files and client records are stored on its computer network. So when Alvarez or any of his agents would visit a client or prospect, the ability to log on and access those files was critical. But Alvarez was concerned that logging on at a client's office compromised HBA's own security by opening a tunnel into his own network, he said.

BellSouth Corp. shareholders Friday approved the proposed sale of their company to AT&T Inc. for $67 billion in stock. AT&T shareholders later voted to issue new stock in the combined company. The deal would expand the reach of the nation's largest telecommunications provider and put the two companies' wireless joint venture, Cingular, under one roof. The BellSouth vote during a special meeting in Atlanta was 97 percent in favor of the deal, which was announced March 5 and is expected to close by the end of the year.

From Apple's new iPhone, unveiled Tuesday at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo, to a slew of new products and alliances announced at the International Consumer Electronics Show, it's been a whirlwind week in the tech world. SEE BUSINESS 1D, 3 D iPhone The iPod-maker leaps into the mobile phone business with the iPhone, to operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.'s Cingular Wireless network. Shipping begins in June. The 4-gigabyte model will cost $499; the 8-gigabyte, $599. AP Photo/Apple, ho

People who thought they could rely on cellular phones to communicate in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley are finding that service might not be what they expected. Most cellular phone towers are equipped with fuel-powered generators that provide power should electricity go out. Those generators kicked in after Hurricane Charley ripped through the state, but cellular phone companies are having a hard time reaching some of their towers -- meaning getting a cell phone signal is awfully tricky in some areas, particularly where damage is worst.

If you think people in South Florida spend a lot of time on their cell phones, you're not mistaken. According to a study released by Verizon Wireless last month, customers in South Florida make and receive more calls -- and talk longer -- than customers in any other place in the United States, including New York and Los Angeles. And prepare yourself because it's going to get worse. Due to some new services made possible by recent cell network enhancements in South Florida, you'll probably be seeing people using their cell phones even more , albeit staring at the tiny screens, watching live television or checking on the weather, rather than chatting.

Recently I was treated to a high-tech taste of how the other one-tenth of 1 percent lives. That is, I tried out new technology available to residents of Jade condominium on Brickell Avenue in Miami. As a security measure, the elevators work only by fingerprint. Residents must register their digits with the condo office, then put their index finger on a small scanner-like device. A 10.4-inch touch-screen panel in each unit's kitchen can be used to call valet parking, dim or brighten the condo's lights, schedule a massage or a mail courier pickup, display a TV camera view of the front lobby, and close the automatic hurricane shutters.